How to Build Wire Topiaries for Plants

Because topiary is the art of training plants to grow in shapes that are unnatural to the plant, topiaries are a permanent work-in-progress, requiring ongoing maintenance and care to keep them looking their best. Simple shapes are equally as effective as complex ones, and indoor topiary forms are simple to make yourself.

Wire coat hanger
Wire cutters
Craft wire
Plant pot
Potting compost
Sand
2 English ivy plants
Twist-ties or twine

Instructions

- 1
  Open out the coat hanger and pull the wire as straight as you can.
- 2
  Bend the wire into a circle shape that’s roughly twice the size of the circumference of your pot. Bend the wire from the middle, so that you have two tails of excess wire that overlap each other after you’ve bent the circle to your desired size.
- 3
  Bend the overlapping tails of the wire at right angles to the circle to create a round lollipop shape with two wire stalks pointing down from the bottom of the circle.
- 4
  Hold the two wire stalks together and then bind them by wrapping craft wire down their length. Snip off the craft wire when you reach the bottom of the stalk.
- 5
  Half fill the pot with a 50/50 mixture of potting compost and sand, and then stand the wire topiary form in the pot so the top of the stalk is one inch above the pot rim. Trim the length of the stalk with the wire cutters if it is too long. Firm the sand and compost mixture around the wire stalk, and then continue adding potting compost to fill the pot.
- 6
  Plant two strands of English Ivy (Hedera helix) in the pot, one on either side of the circle, and wrap the ivy strands around the frame. Secure the ivy with twist-ties or soft twine that won’t damage the plant.
- 7
  Continue to wrap the ivy around the frame as it grows, trimming it as necessary to keep to the shape of the frame.

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